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New York Counties

There are 62 counties in the State of New York. The first twelve counties in New York were created immediately after the British annexation of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, although two of these counties have since been abolished. The most recent county formation in New York was in 1912, when Bronx County was created from the portions of New York City that had been annexed from Westchester County. New York's counties are named for a variety of Native American words, British provinces, cities, and royalty, early American statesmen and generals, and state politicians.

Chautauqua County, New York

Chautauqua County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Mayville
Year Organized: 1808
Square Miles: 1,062

Court House:

3 North Erie Street
Gerace Office Building
Mayville, NY 14757-1028

Etymology - Origin of County Name

a contraction of a Seneca Indian word meaning "where the fish was taken out"

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Chautauqua County was created by partition of Genesee County on 1808-03-11. This partition was performed under the same terms that produced Cattaraugus and Niagara Counties. The partition was performed for political purposes, but the counties were not properly organized, so they were all controlled as part of Niagara County.

On February 9, 1811, Chautauqua was completely organized, and so its separate government was launched. This established Chautauqua as a county of 1,100 Square Miles (2,848.99 Square KM) of land. Chautauqua was never altered.

Chautauqua County, the western gateway to New York State, occupies the extreme southwest corner of our state. With its two cities, Jamestown and Dunkirk, its twenty-seven towns and fifteen villages, it covers 1,065 square miles of Lake Erie shoreline, there is no place in the county more than twenty-five miles from open water. Full History at NYSAC

History of Chautauqua County by Andrew W. Young

Geography

Chautauqua County, in the southwestern corner of New York State, along the New York-Pennsylvania border, is the westernmost of New York's counties. Chautauqua Lake is located in the center of the county, and Lake Erie is its northern border.

Part of the Eastern Continental Divide runs through Chautauqua County. The area that drains into the Conewango Creek (including Chautauqua Lake) eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico; the rest of the county's watershed empties into Lake Erie and out into the North Atlantic Ocean. This divide can be used to mark the border between the Southern Tier and the Niagara Frontier.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,500 square miles (3,885 km²). 1,062 square miles (2,751 km²) of it is land and 438 square miles (1,134 km²) of it (29.20%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Lake Erie - northwest
Erie County, New York - northeast
Cattaraugus County, New York - east
Warren County, Pennsylvania - southeast
Erie County, Pennsylvania - southwest

Cities and Towns:

- Arkwright	town
- Bemus Point	village	Incorporated Area
- Brocton	village	Incorporated Area
- Busti	town
- Carroll	town
- Cassadaga	village	Incorporated Area
- Cattaraugus Reservation	Reservation
- Celoron	village	Incorporated Area
- Charlotte	town
- Chautauqua	town
- Chautauqua Lake	UT
- Cherry Creek	village	Incorporated Area
- Clymer	town
- Dunkirk	city	Incorporated Area
- Ellery	town
- Ellicott	town
- Ellington	town
- Falconer	village	Incorporated Area
- Forestville	village	Incorporated Area
- Fredonia	village	Incorporated Area
- French Creek	town
- Gerry	town
- Hanover	town
- Harmony	town
- Jamestown	city	Incorporated Area
- Kiantone	town
- Lakewood	village	Incorporated Area
- Mayville (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area
- Mina	town
- North Harmony	town
- Panama	village	Incorporated Area
- Pomfret	town
- Portland	town
- Ripley	town
- Sheridan	town
- Sherman	village	Incorporated Area
- Silver Creek	village	Incorporated Area
- Sinclairville	village	Incorporated Area
- Stockton	town
- Villenova	town
- Westfield	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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